CHSRA selects joint venture as best in value

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has selected the Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons joint venture's bid as the "apparent best value" for the design-build contract to construct the first section of its new high-speed rail system.

Parsons is serving as the lead designer for the section, which will stretch between Madera and Fresno and is the first portion of an 800-mile-long system that will accommodate trains running at speeds of more than 200 mph between San Diego and Sacramento. Tutor Perini/Zachry/Parsons offered CHSRA the best value for this nearly $1-billion project.

"Parsons is honored to have been chosen to participate in this significant project," said Todd Wager, Parsons Group president. "We have delivered rail and transit projects around the world and we are very excited to use our experience to provide such a system in California."

The electrically-powered trains will be able to travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco in only two hours and 40 minutes, a trip that can take up to eight hours by car. In addition, the trains will use only one-third of the energy used by an airplane and one-fifth the energy of a family car.